One-in-five children experience poverty in the Tri-Cities. Their parents often turn to SHARE for help. But now SHARE needs our help. TriCities Now's Caring for Kids campaign is raising money to fill the empty shelves at SHARE's food bank.

Christmas. A time of family, a time of celebration, a time of festive feasting.

But what happens when you can’t afford to buy groceries, let alone
food for that special Christmas dinner? Worse yet, what if you turn to
your local food bank for help, only to find out that its shelves are
almost bare, too?

Two weeks before Christmas, the SHARE food bank has put out an urgent
appeal for donations. It has only two and a half weeks’ worth of food
on its shelves at a time of year when there are more demands on its services

In an effort to help, the Tri-Cities NOW is making a slight
change to its Caring for Tri-Cities Kids campaign.

All donations will now go toward whatever SHARE deems most needed, in
this case the food bank. Previously, donations went strictly toward
helping SHARE buy Christmas presents for children whose parents cannot
afford to do so.

SHARE CEO Martin Wyant welcomes the change. "This year, where
we're feeling the sharpest need is on food and money to buy
food," he said.

The Caring for Tri-Cities Kids campaign (formerly known as Pennies
for Presents), has typically raised donations for SHARE to buy toys
for young people, but this year the organization's toy shop is well stocked.

Wyant said food bank donations this year aren't keeping pace with
those made in previous years.

November and December are typically key fund- and food-raising months
for SHARE. The goal is to have enough food at the end of the year —
40,000 food items or 800 shopping carts - to last through the first
quarter of 2015.

For Tri-Cities NOW publisher Shannon Balla, the shift in the
campaign is all about meeting the needs of the community.

"Once we heard the appeal from SHARE, we made the decision to
switch the focus of the campaign to the food bank," she said.
"We hope Tri-Cities residents will continue to donate throughout
the season to such an important cause in the community."

Experience the magic of a traditional German Christmas Market right in downtown Vancouver from now until December 24. This perk is for two tickets (valued at $12). Must be picked up at the TriCities Now office, 3190 St. Johns Street in Port Moody or the Vancouver Courier office, 1574 West 6th Ave. in Vancouver.

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